Policy Watch

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Policy Watch is our regular policy update service, covering national and international developments in the world of education. We try to keep things simple, sharing the latest news and information with you through weekly updates, monthly summaries, papers and events.

You can access the Policy Watch service through Steve's Twitter feed @SteveBesley or by signing up for email updates.

About Steve

As head of UK education policy at Pearson, Steve’s been running the Policy Watch service for almost 20 years. He’ll keep you informed on all things education, along with the rest of his subscribers – there were more than 10,000 at the last count!

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Do we need to re-balance things a bit better between FE and HE if we are to secure that elusive high-level skills pathway that politicians and practitioners have dreamed of for so long? Many people think so.

Alison Wolf saw it as a no-brainer in a report in June, describing the system currently as ‘bifurcated with spending concentrated on academic three year programmes for young people with spending per learner far lower in the skills sector than HE.’ And this week the think tank Policy Exchange has added its weight in a report calling among other things for a large chunk of university funding, half a billion to be precise, to be channelled over to the FE sector to help it develop ‘the high quality technical education’ that employers need.

So how’s this been received, why has a high-level skills route proved so difficult to develop and what was Policy Exchange proposing?

What’s been the reaction?

Pretty much as expected.

The university sector remained unimpressed: “Robbing HE to prop up FE is not the way forward” argued former Education Minister now University Vice-Chancellor, Bill Rammell. University Alliance and Universities UK agreed: ‘this shouldn’t be an either-or.’ Kamjit Kaurin in a blog on wonkhe went further describing proposals to cut HE budgets any further as ’a recipe for disaster.’ On the specific issue of universities sitting on large surpluses which could be used to fund high-skills training in FE, Chris Hale, Director of Policy at Universities UK argued that the report failed to understand university finances: surpluses were necessary to ameliorate recent cuts, secure loans, engage in wider research and invest in infrastructure and other needs.

FE people inevitably saw things differently. The AoC saw it as an opportunity to redress the funding balance and while we’re at it, giving colleges powers to create and award their own higher level technical and professional qualifications. The adult continuing learning organisation NIACE also saw it as a chance to lever funding into the skills training that the country needs while the Edge Foundation sided wholeheartedly with Policy Exchange: “we couldn’t agree more”and pointed to its own report in the summer which had painted a similar picture.

It’s unfortunate but perhaps inevitable six weeks away from an ominous sounding Spending Review that the debate is being played out in economic terms. A dance to the death between the two sectors over funding would probably help no-body. The bigger issue maybe is how to create a genuine all-through higher level route, providing a ladder between the two sectors in what Ministers have been wont to call a single membrane, but this has proved difficult.

Why has the higher-technical route proved so difficult to develop?

It’s not been for want of trying with some efforts going back over a century. There’s been broad agreement on the fundamentals but not necessarily on the implementation or the mechanisms as these three recent examples from across the political spectrum shows.

In the latter days of the last Labour administration, Lord Mandelson’s approach was to create what he called ‘a modern class of technicians.’ Details were set out in a National Skills Strategy published in 2009 and the mechanisms involved beefing up the number of advanced apprenticeships, developing a system of skills accounts and raising the quality of skills training in colleges and other providers. A few years later, Vince Cable for the Coalition picked up the mantle promising in a landmark speech at Cambridge to strengthen what he called the sub-degree gap, encouraging the two systems of FE and HE to work together to develop advanced apprenticeships and higher-tech qualifications worthy of the name and effectively create an FE/HE bridging system. And even more recently, in June this year, George Osborne took things a stage further in the government’s Productivity Plan by proposing a network of specialised Institutes of Technology working with FE providers to deliver employer endorsed qualifications determined through local labour market planning and commissioning.

The language may have changed over the years but as the HE Policy Institute discovered in a Paper commissioned by Pearson a few months ago and looking specifically at ‘Tackling the Level 4 and Level 5 conundrum,’ the basic concepts of employer engagement, locally determined skills needs, work-orientated qualifications and dedicated high-quality technical institutes have remained. All that’s been missing perhaps has been the funding which is where the Policy Exchange report comes in.

What’s Policy Exchange proposing?

Broadly six things:

As part of the Spending Review, the government should seek to ensure that rather than relying on funding grants, the HE sector should draw on its own residual funds to provide for the additional costs of areas like widening participation and high-cost subjects. This would ease some of the pressure on the need to make further Dept cuts which at present appear to be targeted at FE while the potential savings accrued, estimated at £532m, could be used to fund the currently poorly funded higher skills and professional training in FE.

The Dept should accelerate the development of a network of specialised providers equipped to deliver the higher level technical and professional skills that employers need. This would mean building on the current model of National Colleges and Institutes of Technology and in effect creating sector specific provider hubs and outlets around the country. In addition, as many in the FE sector have argued, the Dept should allow these specialist colleges to develop and award their own higher level awards and in time franchise these out to other colleges who wish to use them. At the same time, relevant current qualifications developed by Awarding Organisations (AO) should be opened out and not restricted to any one AO.

The government should move towards a uniform loan system available for all post-19 training whether undertaken in FE or HE. In addition, this should encompass a lifetime draw down facility, in other words it should be a loan where any balance could be used up at a later date perhaps to top up or undertake further specialist training albeit within an overall cap.

The current maintenance grant, shortly to become a loan facility, should be extended to FE where currently the absence of any maintenance support mechanism is restricting opportunities for learners, for example to undertake specialist training in another part of the country.

Government should encourage employer engagement through the extended use of Industrial Partnerships.

The government should consider re-instating some form of cap on the numbers taking full hons degrees so as to encourage greater growth at the sub-degree level where many professional and technical qualifications are listed. In effect this would be a return to the numbers management system that operated a few years ago whereby universities were allowed to recruit any number of high-performing learners but where numbers limits applied to the rest. This would be a similar policy but with the cap lifted on numbers for the high-tech route.

Half-term has arrived for many with education pretty much in full throttle.

The week summed up

This week, two important education-related Bills (the Education Bill and the Cities and Local Gov Devolution Bill) moved a step closer, the Education Secretary defended her position on new schools including grammars, the DfE launched further consultation on ‘dealing with’ coasting schools, the Education Committee examined the role and remit of Regional Schools Commissioners, the Public Accounts Committee examined FE finances, the BIS Committee looked into the government’s Productivity Plan and Ofsted, the think tank Policy Exchange and LKMco/Pearson all published significant reports. In addition training providers and awarding organisations have been in conference. As they used to say in Private Eye: ’that’s enough: Ed’.

It means we reach the final quarter of 2015 with the world of education as busy as ever and arguably three issues prominent.

First, inevitably perhaps as the Chancellor’s spending announcements draw nearer, funding where anxieties continue to build. There’s been something for everyone this week. The Institute for Fiscal Studies issued a new briefing on the outlook for schools funding which boiled down to tough times ahead, colleges were told to expect more births, deaths and marriages by the Dept Permanent Secretary while HE faced the proposition, spelt out in a comprehensive report by the think tank Policy Exchange, that money should be switched from them to FE to help fund the tightly squeezed but much prized higher-level tech training provision. Almost exactly a month to go therefore before the Chancellor declares his hand on where the cuts should fall and education is waiting nervously.

Second, what about the workers, under pressure, underpaid but according to the LKMco/Pearson research today keen to make a difference; is there a recruitment and retention crisis as many have suggested? The Education Secretary waved school teachers off for half-term with a grateful thanks and a reminder that the latest Workforce Challenge groups are busy getting to grips with issues about paperwork, bureaucracy and so on but a seminar hosted by Policy Exchange this week also heard worrying evidence about a lack of specialists in some subject areas and concerns about replacement needs among heads and senior managers. The Dept has done its modelling but this looks like being an issue that will run for some time.

And third, skills training and provision, vital for the government’s Productivity Plan and economic growth ambitions but underfunded at the higher level as Policy Exchange pointed out and still some way short of the full package when it comes to apprenticeships for young people as Ofsted pointed out. Again, we haven’t heard the last of either.

People/organisations in the news this week

The Prime Minister who along with the Home Secretary launched the government’s counter-extremism strategy with an emphasis on helping build ‘cohesive communities’

The BIS Committee who spent a morning this week hearing a range of views from different parts of the education and business world on the government’s Productivity Plan

The Education Committee who have announced that it will hold a one-off session to examine the issue of teacher recruitment and retention; no date set yet but it is calling for evidence submissions by 20 November 2015

The DfE who updated its guidance on intervention strategies for schools causing concern and published an accompanying consultation on the definition of ‘coasting’

The DfE who following the publication last week of interim performance results for GCSEs and A levels have now added interim destination results as well

Go ON UK, the charity promoting digital skills, who along with the BBC, LGA and LSE have created a heatmap showing where digital exclusion is at its wort in the UK. (Spoiler: London and the S.E fares best, parts of Wales, Scotland, Northumberland, Shropshire and N.Lincs fare worst)

Ed Balls who is joining the growing body of expertise at the Policy Institute at King’s College London and becoming a visiting professor there

Sir Anthony Seldon who has pursued his interest in ‘learner mental wellbeing’ from his new post as Vice-Chancellor at the University of Buckingham by publishing a 10-point plan intended to help universities deal with such issues better

Former Chair of the Education Committee Barry Sheerman who has been confirmed as Chair of the new Sutton Trust Advisory Group which will advise the Trust on its future research strategy

Michael Davis, chief executive of UKCES, who will leave his post next March

The think tank Policy Exchange whose report proposing a transfer of funds from HE to FE to help build a higher level professional technical route attracted considerable interest

Ofsted who published a major report on apprenticeships critical of many aspects including the quality of some of the schemes, the failure to focus on the key sectors and the lack of careers guidance and support needed to encourage young people to take up an apprenticeship

Chief Executive of Ofqual Glenys Stacey who gave a comprehensive overview of how the qualification systems and its regulation is changing in a speech at the Federation of Awarding Bodies Annual Conference

Neil Carmichael, Chair of the Education Committee, who is one of a number of co-authors of a new report from the consultancy Wild Search looking at new models of school governance and calling for proper remuneration for governors

LKMco who in a report commissioned by Pearson surveyed teachers to find out what motivated them to go into teaching in the first place and what some of the issues were that helped and/or hindered them

The Institute of Physics who published a report looking at how gender can affect the choice of subjects such as Physics in school and who called for ‘gender champions’ to be appointed to help overcome any bias

The Education Endowment Foundation who is launching a series of new learning packages this week designed to help those working with disadvantaged pupils particularly in areas such as numeracy

Laura McInerney whose article in The Guardian this week raised a number of interesting points about how best to attract teachers, especially in so-called tough areas

The NUT who led the handing in of a petition to the DfE this week arguing against the introduction of baseline assessment for 4 and 5 year olds at the start of primary.

Tweet(s) of the week

“When Lemsip just isn’t enough. 16 tell-tale signs that half-term is just around the corner.” @tes

“What those pen colours mean. #Red: I work in the independent sector.” @tombennett71

“Nicky Morgan01 says: there are no applications for new grammar school expansions sitting on her desk right now.” @SchoolsWeek

“It’ll be like Ofsted on speed when the area-review teams visit (colleges)” @tesfenews

Quote(s) of the week

“At the end of the day let’s be frank about this, we need everyone to work on this together.” The Prime Minister appeals for help as he launches the counter-extremism strategy

“I realise there has been significant interest in the outcome of this case, including from MPs, but I would like to take this opportunity to confirm that the government has no plans to change our policy on grammar schools.” The Education Secretary on where the government stands on grammar schools

“In my opinion there are 3 guilty parties: schools, further education providers and employers.” The Chief Inspector takes a wide aim when it comes to tackling apprenticeships

“What it isn’t OK is to come in at 9 until 4-it isn’t that sort of job-but my teachers do 8 to 6.” Government adviser and practising headteacher Sir Andrew Carter describes what’s required to be a teacher in his school

“They may not be a pleasant thing to do but they are a necessary thing.” Government behaviour adviser Tom Bennett on the case for school detentions

What to look out for next week

No higher ed Green Paper this week as had been widely anticipated, instead, as the listing below shows, schools and exams have been filling the headlines.

The week summed up

The main story has been about the opening of a new grammar school ‘annexe’ in Kent. The government has been very circumspect in how it’s presenting the decision to approve it: ‘this will better meet the needs of parents,’ ‘it’s a genuine expansion of an existing school,’ ‘it doesn’t reflect a change in policy’ and so on but inevitably it’s provoked a lot of debate and the Labour Party has called for an official explanation. For many, the approval sits awkwardly with the Prime Minister’s “no more children with their noses pressed to the window as they watch the world moving ahead without them” social mobility speech just a week ago and a key issue will be how far this is a one-off and what impact this has on the planning of school provision in the future. Time will tell.

Exams and exam performance has been the other big schools story this week partly because the government has decided to publish ‘provisional’ exam performance data early this year to help parents making choices about secondary schools and partly because Ofqual has been in front of the Education Committee this week answering questions on exams and much more.

On the performance data which as ASCL’s Brian Lightman said, ‘should come with a hefty health warning’ as it’s still only partial, the broad picture is no great change between 2014 and 2015. Slightly more state school pupils (0.2%) achieved 5 A*-Cs, slightly fewer (0.1%) took EBacc subjects largely because of a drop in entries for languages and at L3, the average point score per vocational entry continued to rise. The formal performance tables by the way will be published in the normal way in January. As for exams generally, Ofqual was tackled on a range of issues including exam reform, GCSE grading, numbers of examiners and marking generally by the new Education Committee this week. Much of it was traditional stuff but a particular issue and one highlighted on the BBC website this week is that of appeals about marks and whether this is being used strategically to raise results in parts of the school system. Ofqual’s evidence suggests that despite the rise in requests, the number of grades actually changing as a result is very small…but it is going to consult all the same.

So no HE Green Paper this week but decks clear for next week or soon after. Speculation remains rife as to what might be in the Paper as Mark Leach’s expert piece in the Guardian this week indicated although broad details were evident in the Minister’s speech last month. One thing that may arrive from HE next week however is a big bag of washing. According to train companies the third weekend of October, generally one month into term, is peak time for uni student travel; time to clear more decks.

The BIS Committee who held a witness session with the Business Secretary and his Permanent Secretary on the work of the Dept

The DfE, who as promised earlier this year, published provisional performance results from this year’s GCSE, A level and vocational exams in an effort to get info out early to parents applying for secondary school places

The DfE who pointed to figures published this week showing that more 5 year olds than ever were achieving the expected standards in maths and literacy under the early years foundation stage profile

The Institute for Fiscal Studies who published a helpful summary of how things are shaping up for Dept spending under the 2015 Spending Review where both education Depts are likely to face cuts

Ofqual Chief Regulator Glenys Stacy whose speech to the Westminster Education Forum this week outlined how the development of new GCSEs and A levels and other current issues around exam reviews and appeals

Glenys Stacey and Amanda Spielman who both appeared before the Education Committee this week answering questions on exam reform, GCSE grading, marking, appeals and the National Reference Test

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission who have launched a consultation on inspecting how effectively local areas are meeting special educational needs requirements

The think tank Demos whose commissioned research for its ‘Mind over Matter’ report identified that students were less happy and more anxious towards the end of their secondary schooling than at the beginning

Northern Ireland’s National Children’s Bureau whose report ‘ICT and Me’ found that while there was no statistically significant link between mobile phone use and GCSE performance, there was between excessive use of gaming and GCSE exam performance

The Competition and Markets Authority who have written to schools to remind them that parents should be free to shop around when it comes to buying school uniforms rather than be tied into a particular retailer

Tweet(s) of the week

“Prof Richard Pring@UniofOxford: the most centralised system of education since Calvin’s days in the 1th century.” @Adrian_Hilton

“@JeyyLowe: Anyone arguing in favour of grammars is talking out of their anecdote.” @miss_mcinerney

“#ASCLInfo: 69% still planning to enter all students for AS levels.” @brianlightman

Quote(s) of the week

“Do bankers deserve their bonuses?” One of a number of possible interview questions facing candidates applying to Oxford University as it seeks to delve into their reasoning powers and thought processes

“FE doesn’t stand for featherbedding the economy but further education.“ Emeritus UCL Professor Frank Coffield on the need for teaching staff as much as local employers to be involved in the current area-based reviews of the FE sector

“It was careless of government to end compulsory work experience in 2012 but it is not too late to correct the decision.” The D.G. of the British Chambers of Commerce reporting on their latest employers’ survey

“If you play darts every day you get good at subtracting from 501. The reason that so many of us believe that we can’t do maths is largely psychological.” Mike Ellicock, CEO of National Numeracy talks about the challenge of maths at this week’s World Maths Day

“Let the senior leadership team take over someone’s teaching for a day so that they can observe another teacher’s practice in a focused way.” One of 13 tips from Sir Tim Brighouse, listed on the TES website, to help improve teacher CPD and morale

“There is no reason why an academic core curriculum should in any way imperil a cultural education or vice versa.” Schools Minister Nick Gibb at the launch of a new initiative to boost cultural education in schools.

The media crowded in enthusiastically but what have we really learned from this week’s new look Labour Party Conference particularly for the world of education?

The week summed up

According to some, the new leader looked like a teacher and even sounded like one particularly when he began his speech by asking: “Any chance we could start?” It’s a phrase many teachers would recognise.

There was a big call for ‘a kinder politics, a more caring society’ but when it came to education, there were just five lines. It’s very early days of course but some pointers have begun to emerge both during and after the Conference.

At present three stand out. First, the pledge to scrap tuition fees, one of the big Corbyn campaign pledges but which has now been put on hold while it’s subjected to the Party’s extensive policy making process. It might emerge, it might not but as the Shadow HE Minister put it rather guardedly: ”there needs to be a deep process of thought.” Second Academies and Free Schools, the main focus of those five lines and where the new Shadow Education Secretary confirmed; “no more Free Schools and academy chains will be made accountable.” And third, the economy and skills, where as part of an alternative economic plan proposed by the Shadow Chancellor, a new Economic Advisory Committee would be set up and a new, more powerful role as a driver of growth granted to BIS under a future Labour government.

Now it’s off to Manchester where the Conservatives host the last of this season’s major Party Conferences, (Business, skills and the economy on Monday, education on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s speech Wednesday.)

The mood will be different but there’s no shortage of issues when it comes to an area like education.

To highlight just a few from the week’s headlines below; first higher education where despite HEFCE’s welcome report on the career progression of the Class of 2008/9, those in other words who graduated at the height of the financial crisis, deep concerns remain about future funding and the impact of the Spending Review (see Sir Paul Nurse’s quote below.) Second, the area-review process for FE, blasted as a “shambles” by the Shadow Schools Minister and now drawn into the latest consultation on adult learning accountability measures launched this week. Third, the funding of skills training and in particular the apprenticeship levy for which consultation closed this week. To quote from the CBI’s submission; “a new levy won’t be welcomed by business so we want to see a new politically independent Levy Board setting the rate.” And fourth and never far away, teacher recruitment where despite the announcement this week of new, increased bursaries, UCAS figures on recruitment to teacher training courses remains low in some key subjects.

People/organisations in the news this week

John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, who in a wide-ranging speech to the Labour Party Conference, signalled that the BIS Dept would be a key driver of economic growth in any future Labour government

Lucy Powell who used her first Conference speech as Shadow Education Secretary to call for greater local accountability for academies and a halt to the creation of more Free Schools

The Institute of Government who used a series of charts to provide an interesting analysis of the Labour frontbench

Sheffield City Region which has become the latest region to sign up to the Chancellor’s programme for devolving management of local growth planning and investment

The BIS Dept who launched further consultation on the new outcome based success measures it intends to use for post-19 education and training from summer 2017

The DfE who have responded to concerns about teacher recruitment by announcing increased bursaries for teachers of core subjects and increased funding for Schools Direct

Project Literacy, a global alliance of business and charities, who have submitted a virtual petition to world leaders at the UN calling on them to prioritise the enormous issue of illiteracy around the world

The Hays Global Skills Index whose latest report covering 31 countries highlighted continuing concerns about skill shortages in different parts of the world

Deloitte, who have announced that from next year they will not look at which school or university a candidate attended so that they can be judged on merit

HEFCE who reported on the career progression of UK students who had graduated at around the time of the economic crash in 2008/09 and found that nearly 78% were in professional jobs between 6 and 40 months after leaving uni

The Consumer Ombudsman Services who published a useful student guide full of tips on how to deal with landlords, utility companies and service providers for students embarking on life away from home

Judith Petts, currently pro vice-chancellor at Southampton University, who has been appointed as vice-chancellor at Plymouth University from Feb 2016

The RQF (Regulated Qualifications Framework) which replaced the QCF from this week

The consultation on the apprenticeship levy which closed today (Friday Oct 2) with employer groups expressing concerns about cost, quality and business impact

Ofsted who confirmed that it would be publishing a survey report on apprenticeships this month and will also undertake a follow-up survey on 16-19 study programmes

Ofqual Director Jeremy Benson who outlined some of the issues surrounding innovation and technology in assessment in a speech to the FELTAG Conference this week

The LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion whose joint report on the performance of disadvantaged pupils in London added to the growing weight of evidence building up about the success of the capital’s schools

The DfE who updated its guidance on implementing the pay arrangements in schools

The Prince’s Teaching Institute which according to the TES is moving into primary education and running its first ever event for primary heads this week

‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ ‘The Book Thief,’ ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ the top five books (in order) in W.H. Smith’s social media customer survey of the top paperback books of all time

Tweet(s) of the week

“@GordonMarsden on tuition fees: we are going to review our position. We rule nothing in and nothing out.” @AaronPorter

"We have to get away from thinking policy problems are solved by setting a big number” @IPPR_NickP #Lab15 #apprenticeships

“The apprenticeship levy is probably a game changer but we don’t know what game we are playing says @davidhNIACE.” @FEWeek

“The great majority of Tweets on Twitter is education is education-based not b/c educators are in great numbers but the group is prolific.” @tomwhitby

“Have we redesigned our entire curriculum simply because one man read a book? The DfE’s obsession with E.D.Hirsch.” @SecEd_Education

Quote(s) of the week

“We’ll also turn the Dept for Business, Innovation and Skills into a powerful economic development dept in charge of public investment, infrastructure planning and setting new standards in the labour market.” The Shadow Chancellor promises a more expansive role for BIS under a Labour government

“I don’t intend to sit on the sidelines. We will make a difference.” The new Shadow Education Secretary appears keen to make her mark

“Neanderthals.” Sir Paul Nurse’s view of anyone attempting to cut the science budget (Sir Paul is currently leading a major review of research councils)

“There is a feeling that beyond the narrowest of employment-related targets, politicians no longer care about what becomes of FE." The Policy Consortium checks the pulse of FE six months on from its annual survey of the sector

“I know nothing about education.” But the new chief executive of the 157 group of Colleges is learning very fast according to an interview in the TES

“We’re proud of what we’ve done with free schools meals.” The PM’s spokesman dismisses speculation that free school meals could be cut as part of the Spending Review

“When you’re up at 1.00am planning lessons, it’s less lonely if you watch Bargain Hunt.” One of the lessons learnt by new primary school teachers according to the TES.

Number(s) of the week

757m. The number of people across the world classified as illiterate and whose needs have been highlighted in a new global campaign launched at the UN

34. The number of UK universities in the top 200 of the Times Higher annual world university rankings published this week

55. The number of current world leaders who have been educated at UK universities and thus added to UKHE’s international standing according to research from the HE Policy Institute

£240 a year. How much students living away from home typically lose out because they don’t know their rights or how to complain

57p. The increase in the apprentice hourly rate of the National Minimum Wage implemented this week bringing the hourly total now to £3.30 (£6.50 an hour for adult workers)

62% of qualified teachers are female yet only 36% of heads are female; the teaching glass ceiling reported on in The Guardian this week.

The week summed up

The SNP have their bash next week but it’s back to the more routine business for politicians in England next week. So, five months on from the general election and with a busy autumn beckoning, how’s education looking?

A more detailed summary can be found in an accompanying Policy Watch but in terms of headlines, six points stand out.

First, education remains an important priority. It’s not in the top three public concerns highlighted by Ipsos-Mori recently but it’s certainly in the top ten and a central part of the government’s pitch for the centre ground hence why the PM and Chancellor took the lead on education announcements this week.

Second, the economy hangs over everything but it’s much more now about how to get the wheels turning a bit better, more jobs, better productivity, higher skills and so on; both the Chancellor and his opposite number had plenty to say about all of this.

Third, it’s not just about surpluses and targets, economic policy needs to come with a soul as well, kinder, compassionate, caring, all words used in the Leaders’ speeches and all beginning to be displayed in education agendas where issues such as mental health and pupil safeguarding have been raised again this week.

Fourth, for schools, it’s pretty much business as before, ‘excellence for all,’ as Nicky Morgan put it but with mechanisms like funding, coasting and local accountability providing key political dividing lines. Fifth, for FE, missing again from major speeches but with its future being shaped in Treasury plans. And sixth, HE, about to enter a new phase with a Green Paper due out shortly but where debates about fees, funding and visas are never far away.

If, Desert Island Disc wise, one overriding them or issue had to be selected from the debates and speeches of the last few weeks, it would probably have to be social mobility or in education terms opening up opportunity and closing down attainment gaps whether in schools, FE or HE. It was a theme adopted in David Cameron’s speech, “the brick wall of blocked opportunity” and in Jeremy Corbyn’s “we have aspirations for all children, not just a few.” It’s the theme also of two reports out today one on the pupil premium and the other on apprenticeships. It binds politicians and professionals alike and as the Social Mobility Commission put it last year, is the ultimate prize for 2020.

Top headlines this week

‘More than 50% of teachers in England plan to quit in next two years.’ (Monday)

People/organisations in the news this week

The Prime Minister who re-affirmed his support for more Academies and Free Schools and announced a new registration system for religious supplementary schools in the education ‘bits’ of his Conference speech this week

The Chancellor of the Exchequer who used his Conference speech to announce a number of measures to help stimulate growth in the economy including new powers and simpler funding rules for local councils and the creation of a new National Infrastructure Commission

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan who confirmed in her Conference speech that families would have ‘a right to request’ a full day’s childcare before and after school and during the holidays as well

Nicky Morgan who has written to the School Teachers’ Review Body asking for advice by next April on how best to apply the 2016/17 pay award of 1%

The government who announced new sanctions, pursuable through the welfare system and the courts, to help tackle school truancy

The Public Accounts Committee who following a series of inquiries this year on the pupil premium have produced their own report concluding that while the premium has helped, there is still not a good enough understanding let alone sharing of what works best in helping close the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils

Jonathan Portes who is leaving his post as director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research

The British Council, who as this year’s Nobel prize winners were being announced, examined the educational background of past winners and found that many had studied at some point in the UK

Key Cities, a group of 26 smaller cities including York, Derby and Cambridge who have urged the government not to forget about them as the devolution bandwagon gathers pace

The Industry Skills Board, a group of employers with an interest in skills issues brought together by City Guilds, who have published a 25-point action plan for ‘Making Apprenticeships Work’ which includes a Levy Board and UCAS style applications for young apprenticeships

The Sutton Trust whose latest commissioned report found that the best top apprenticeships resulted in greater lifetime earnings than some non-Russell Group degrees but that not enough apprenticeships were yet at this top end

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) who is inviting responses as to how it’s doing in its Annual Perception Survey

The DfE who ahead of the new accountability measures coming in next year, published experimental data on L1/2 attainment in English and maths by 16-18 yr olds for 2013 /14

Ofqual who published in one handy booklet its full postcard collection explaining the current changes to qualifications and regulation

Ofqual who published a listing of GCSE, AS and A level qualifications not being reformed explaining in each case why they are being withdrawn

Leading independent schools who as part of the HMC have been in conference this week reflecting on many of key education issues of the day from qualification reform to concerns about mental health in schools

Dr Sam Carr from Bath University who examined the issue raised in a recent NUT survey about so many teachers wanting to leave the profession and suggested that ‘suffocation’ of motivation and job satisfaction were key factors

The book retailer Waterstones who announced that as sales of Kindles are falling, it will restock the shelves with books instead.

Quote(s) of the week

“Today, a teenager sitting their GCSE is more likely to own a smartphone than have a dad living with them.” The Prime Minister reflects on some of the challenges in social reform

“Today I am embarking on the biggest transfer of power to our local government in living memory.” The Chancellor launches his so-called devolution revolution

“If politicians and others do not fully understand or appreciate what a jewel they have in British higher education, they risk throwing it all away.” The outgoing vice-chancellor of Oxford university on protecting the crown jewels of UKHE

“There has never been a better time to be a teacher.” Schools Minister Nick Gibb makes the case at one of this week’s Conference fringe events

“I was ready to make a 300-mile round trip to see one candidate…before they had another chance to be interviewed by another school.” A head teacher on the realities of the current teacher shortage

“At the age of 8, I had a dozen pretend registers and a full-sized whiteboard in my bedroom so that I could ‘practice’ teaching with my friends.” A trainee teacher tells her story as part of this week’s World Teacher Day

“If you are a school today, what are you preparing your children for when they are moving into a world when they could live up to 120?” The challenges for schools just got greater according to the chief executive of Fast Future